Slow cooker lentil and ham soup recipe

This is a classic wintery soup, choc full of vegetables and flavour. It was the latest to be tried in our newish Sunday Night Soup tradition.  It reminded me of wandering around Christmas markets in Germany...oh, those were the days!

  

Ingredients for 6:

200g / 1 cup lentils - brown, green or Le Puy

2 sticks celery, chopped

3 medium carrots, chopped roughly

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

150g / 1 cup diced ham

1/2 tsp herbes de provence or mixed herbs

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 litre water

2 chicken stock cubes

1 tin (14 ox/ 400g) chopped tomatoes

Directions:

Throw everything into the pot and simmer on Low for 8-12 hours. 

Verdict:

A very tasty, warming soup with good and well-balanced flavour from the vegetables. You may want to add a little salt at the end. The one issue we had was that the ham we used (which was good quality) got quite stringy which I didn't like. I might use a smoked cooked pork sausage next time like the Mathesons ones which come in a horseshoe shape. I don't usually like using anything that processed but it would withstand the cooking well here. Alternatively, you could use pancetta or lardons or  replace one of the chicken cubes with a ham stock cube which would also cut the cost of this economical dish even further. Totally cheating but it would solve the issue without losing much flavour.